


S.W.A.L.K.

by inamac



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Symbolic Bondage, Wax Play, stationery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-31
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:19:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inamac/pseuds/inamac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucius Malfoy likes to hold with tradition and mark his possessions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	S.W.A.L.K.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was 'symbolic bondage'. I used both meanings: pretend" bondage (e.g. not actually tied up but pretending to be) and symbols of belonging or ownership. The title is a message between lovers used to seal old letters – Sealed With A Loving Kiss. (I'm afraid that I have been indulging my passion for stationery porn again.)

**S.W.A.L.K.**

Possession, went the old Muggle saying, is nine tenths of the law.

For wizards, in particular purebloods, and especially Malfoys, it was the whole of the law.

Moreover, for a single Malfoy in possession of a fortune in galleons the question of the legality of his ownership was never likely to be raised. Nevertheless, Lucius Malfoy liked to hold with tradition and mark his possessions. And to do so with traditional tools and using traditional methods.

To that end he had set out those tools on the dressing table in his bed-chamber in lieu of the desk in his study where such rituals were usually performed.

It was a silver-gilt set, bearing eighteenth century goblin hallmarks along with the Malfoy crest to demonstrate its ownership. There was a drum-shaped wax-jack with its coil of golden beeswax visible through a container pierced with a filigree of entwined serpents, a long, snake-handled matching wax ladle, and a flat box holding sticks of green mottled sealing wax.

The only thing missing was parchment and envelopes. The skin on which Lucius Malfoy intended to set his mark of ownership was a living one.

"In the old days," he said, using a wandless _incendio_ to light the tongue of wick protruding from the wax jack, "the Malfoy Seal was a guarantee of purity. We branded our cattle with it, burned it onto the hide of our horses, pressed it into the wax of our contracts, our conveyances, our deeds and our treaties.

His hand moved across to a small chest bound with gold bands and painted with faded scenes of Medieval wizardry that was not a part of the matched set but much older. He tipped back the lid to reveal a set of metal seals, ranging in size from a great double-hinged saucer-sized mould bearing the Malfoy arms on one side and the figure of a wizard mounted on a flying horse on the other, through a silver-gilt disc some two inches across forming the base of a carving of two intertwined snakes, one ebony, one ivory, to a series of smaller letter seals. His fingers lingered over the curve of the largest. "This is the Great Seal which was affixed by William the Bastard himself to the grant of land to Armand Malfoy. In those days important Seals were crafted by the greatest goldsmiths in the land. It took nearly a pound of wax to fill the seal and secure documents written on the finest vellum."

His words were addressed to the other occupant of the room, and he did not expect a reply. In fact, had he received one, the game that he was playing here would have ended. And neither of them wished for that. Not yet.

Nevertheless, Severus Snape bit his tongue on a retort and clenched his fists. He lay spread-eagled on his back on the bed, toes touching the posts at each corner of the base, wrists resting against their partners at the head. He was bound, by neither cords nor conjuration, but by the command of his lover and his own word.

By trust.

"Do not move," Lucius had said, peeling his garments from him before pressing him naked down onto the silken covers and arranging him in this open, vulnerable position. "Do not speak," he commanded, tracing an admonitory finger over his lips. "Nothing until I command it. Do you agree?"

He had nodded, the only option now left to him, knowing that, as ever, his lover would push at the limits of that promise, and being thrilled by the possibilities.

That had been half an hour ago and he was beginning to regret the promise. Thus far the worst part of his ordeal was having to listen to Lucius Malfoy pontificating instead of getting on with the task at hand.

But Lucius had always liked to savour his pleasures. The long fingers, which Snape was burning to feel on his flesh, moved on over the next seal in the box, caressing the entwined serpents before lifting one of the smaller seals from its velvet nest.

"There are," he said, conversationally, "half a dozen ways of preparing a seal to prevent the wax sticking to it." He moved over to the bed and leaned over the other man, holding the seal between them and dropping his voice confidentially. "I could breathe on it," he said. "Think of it, my breath, warm droplets of condensed air, caught between metal and wax."

Snape blinked, feeling that breath on his face and longing to feel it elsewhere. Then Lucius drew back.

"Or I could oil it. We have more than sufficient oil for our purposes."

Both pairs of eyes moved to the bottle on the bedside table. Snape scowled and curbed his retort with a growl. Lucius smiled. He loved this game. Severus rose to his challenges so beautifully.

"Such a waste though. Or I could use the natural oils from your skin, or hair. Or from mine. My Grand-Father always stroked his seal down his nose before using it. I thought it rather gross, but effective."

This time Snape's nostrils flared, but he kept his tongue still. He would have his revenge later. His eyes were, nevertheless, eloquent. _Get on with it, Malfoy._

They knew each other too well for Lucius to miss his partner's impatience. He set down the seal and picked up the stick of sealing wax, breaking off a portion and placing it in the bowl of the silver ladle, before resting it on the stand over the flame of the jack.

"Not too hot," he said. "One does not want to burn the parchment."

There was no parchment on the table. Snape knew exactly what Lucius intended to do with the wax and the seal, and the anticipation made the breath catch in his throat.

It took a few minutes for the wax to melt to Lucius' satisfaction. Eventually content he lifted the ladle from its stand and snuffed out the jack. He rose, ladle in one hand, seal in the other, and crossed the room to stand over Snape's supine form.

"Now," he murmured, "where best to mark my ownership?" His outstretched hand traced down Snape's body, from forehead, to throat, sternum, navel and stomach, finally halting with the bowl of the ladle held inches above Snape's cock. Fear had made it a temporarily small target, but if Lucius was waiting for a vocal protest he was to be disappointed.

"No," he said. "The object is to mark my property, not mar it."

The ladle retraced its journey and Lucius lowered it, not close enough for the heat of the bowl to singe Snape's abundant chest hair but near enough that, when he tipped it the drops of wax fell to form a liquid pool on his sternum. Lucius frowned as the other man's nipples responded with arousal. Well, he would allow this small and involuntary rebellion against his command for stillness.

When the contents of the ladle had been poured, and the pool was two fingers-width across he blew on the empty bowl to cool it a little, and then used the back of it to smooth and stir the wax, eliminating bubbles and preparing the surface for the impression of the seal. And then, as Snape's eyes followed every movement, waiting to see which of the many methods he had outlined for preparing the seal he would use, Lucius brought the metal to his lips and _licked_ the surface.

Snape's own tongue emerged from between his full lips, mirroring the action. With the threat removed from it, and sensation refocused on the burning heat on his chest, his cock was now fully erect, but that seemed almost irrelevant. The spotlight of both men's erotic attention was on the cooling surface of the soft wax and the now damp surface of the seal.

Very deliberately Lucius leaned down and stamped the symbol of his ownership on his partner's body.

Severus groaned.

Lucius dropped ladle and seal and claimed the open mouth with his own.

He tasted of old wax, of oil and metal and parchment and centuries of privilege and possession.

Severus revelled in it. He did not need speech to demonstrate how much he wanted possession for himself. As Lucius moved to straddle him his tongue and cock were eloquent of his needs.

Lucius grinned. "You may move," he said. "Specifically, you may move that disobedient cock of yours between my thighs."

Snape obeyed, wrapping himself round his half-naked partner and pulling him close. With his tongue freed, both literally and metaphorically he took full advantage of his position. "About that oil you mentioned," he said. "I think that we might put it to use now."

+++

Much later, when Lucius had peeled away the wax and soothed the red, bald spot with the same lascivious tongue-strokes with which he had prepared the seal, and Severus had taken a sweet and satisfying revenge for the hurt and the insults, they lay together contemplating the likeness of the Malfoy Great Seal carved into the centre of the bed canopy.

"So," said Snape, "Malfoys mark all their possessions do they?"

Lucius smiled. "All the things we love and do not want to lose."

"Will you mark the Black Narcissus like this?"

Snape seldom alluded to Lucius' forthcoming marriage, knowing that it would mean the end of nights such as this. There was a long silence, then Lucius propped himself up on one elbow and looked very seriously into his lover's eyes.

"The Marriage Contract will be sealed with the Serpent Seal, as all such Contracts have been for the last three hundred years. And she will wear the Malfoy Ring to show that she belongs to the Malfoy family now."

Snape turned his head away, but not before Lucius caught the look of despair on his face. Lucius turned and reached for the disc of wax which he had set on the bedside table. He pulled Snape round and held it before his dark eyes. "I assure you that she will never be marked as you have been."

The wax had taken the impression of the seal perfectly. For the first time Snape could see the symbol of ownership with which his lover had marked him. The letter, raised against the background, was not the Malfoy 'M' but a scrolled elaborate 'L'.

End.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Daily Deviant July 2012 prompt 'Symbolic Bondage'.


End file.
